Jags stop Mitchell's comeback attempt

EDDIE PELLSThe Associated Press

Published Tuesday, August 05, 2003

JACKSONVILLE -- Johnnie Mitchell left his latest training camp in a more traditional way than in the past: He simply got cut.

Mitchell, who has walked out of two training camps during his on-again, off-again decade in pro football, was released Monday by the Jacksonville Jaguars, putting at least a temporary halt to his quest to play in a regular-season game for the first time since 1996.

"We didn't feel like he was going to make this football team," coach Jack Del Rio said. "We wanted to be fair and give him a chance to catch on with somebody else."

Mitchell, 32, was a first-round draft pick of the New York Jets in 1992. He caught 158 passes for 2,086 yards and 16 TDs over four seasons. The Jets named him their franchise player before the 1996 season, but granted him his release at the start of training camp.

He signed with the Dolphins, but walked out of their training camp 12 days later.

He caught on briefly with the Cowboys later that year, but was out of football the next two seasons. He signed again with the Jets in the spring of 1999, but announced his retirement on the first day of Bill Parcells' training camp.

He spent 2000 out of football, then was with the Saints off and on the next two years, although he never played in a regular-season game.

The Jaguars signed him this spring, when they were in contentious contract negotiations with Kyle Brady, and weren't sure if he would be part of the team this year.

"There is so much good football left in me," Mitchell said in April. "This team will benefit from other teams' inability to make a gutsy decision" to sign him.

Brady, however, is in camp, and with two young tight ends playing behind him, the Jaguars cut Mitchell.

"We were shocked," said Mitchell's agent, Jason Brodie. "He was performing great in practice. They said it had nothing to do with ability, they wanted to go with youth."

Brodie said Mitchell hopes to sign with another team soon.

Although Del Rio and the Jaguars scouts were impressed with Mitchell's conditioning, they soon realized he had no chance of making the team.

Is he still good enough to play in the league?

"That's for someone else out there to determine," Del Rio said. "We just didn't feel like it was going to be a good fit for us. He's a good guy, a good person. We just didn't feel it was fair to string him along."

Mitchell's release came on the same day a TV crew from HBO was in town to do a story on Mitchell's strange career. Turned out, they didn't get any footage of him on the field.

Notes: Del Rio plans to start backup quarterback David Garrard during one preseason game to see how he does against first-team defenses. The coach hasn't decided which game yet. ... RB Fred Taylor sat out again with a knee bruise. Del Rio said he'll miss Saturday's preseason opener at Minnesota. ... The Jaguars will hold their second night practice of training camp Tuesday.